Printing mechanism for tabulating machines



Jan. 5, 1937. TAUSCHEK 2,066,748

PRINTING MECHANISM FOR TABULATING MACHINES Filed Dec. 28, 1955 2Sheets-Sheet l If E \NV NTOR ATTO R N EY Jan. 5, 1937.

G. TAUSCHEK P RINTING MECHANISM BOB TABUL'ATIN G MACHINES- Filed Dec.28, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INV NTOR Mu ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 5, 1937Gustav Tauseliek, New York, N. Y., assig'nor to International BusinessMachines Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New YorkApplication December 28, 1935, Serial No. 56,420

6 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in printing mechanism adapted toprint characters such as, numerals, alphabetical characters. etc., upona record sheet.

The main object of the present invention is to devise a printingmechanism which is especially adapted for performing printing operationsat high speeds.

In carrying out the main object of the invention the printing type arecarried by a wheel which is driven by a drive shaft through animpositive clutch until the preselected type is at the printing line. 3

A still further object of the invention is to provide a suitablemechanism so that the printing wheel may be rotated in synchronousrelationship with the controlling element, which in the presentinstance, comprises a moving perforated tabulating card and to cause bythe perforation in the card the stopping of the movement of the printingwheel for the selection of a type. In the present instance the maindrive shaft is further rotatable to complete its revolution after theprinting wheel has been stopped for the selection of a type, and anotherobject of the invention is to provide an improved form of mechanism forresetting all the printing wheels that have been stopped to again bringthem in the proper operative relationship with the drive shaft.

The improved form of clutch, which may be used for other and varyingpurposes in accounting machines, comprises a spring-pressed ballinterengaging one of a series of wedge-shaped notches of a ring, theball being in a recess of an element rotatable with the drive shaft andthe wedgeshaped notches being internally formed in a ring attached tothe printing wheel.

This impositive form of clutch is capable of automatically re-aligningthe printing wheel with the drive shaft if in the movement of the driveshaft the latter moves ahead of the printing wheel, as occurs in thepresent instance in the initial release of a printing wheel.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a mechanism ordinarily employed in aconventional tabulating machine for feeding and analyzing tabulatingcards.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view in side elevation illustrating the partsnecessary for a single unit of the improved printing mechanism.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

The machine in which the present improvements have been incorporated iswell known and is fully disclosed in the patents to Lake No. 1,379,268,dated May 24, 1921, No. 1,600,413, dated September 21, 1926, and thepatent to Daly et al., No. 1,896,540, dated February 7, 1933.

In machines illustrated in detail in the above described patents andgenerally herein, tabulating cards i0 (Fig. 1) are adapted to be fedsingly by a picker H from a supply stack to a pair of upper feedingrollers l2 which convey the card so as to have the perforations of thecard analyzed by the usual perforation analyzing brushes i3 while thecard is in motion. The card analyzed then passes to a lower set offeeding rollers I 4 which then convey the card to a storage hopper,usual in the type of machine referred to.

Card feeding operations are'instituted by the usual manual start keydesignated as ST in the last mentioned patent so as to cause by an electrical circuit the energization of a card feed clutch magnet l5.

The power for driving the card feeding rollers and other parts of themachine is derived from a motor (not shown) which by a belt l6 andpulley I! constantly rotates a ratchet wheel 19 secured thereto. Thepulley I1 and ratchet wheel iii are loosely mounted upon a shaft l8.

In Fig. 1 there is shown the card feed clutch for causing card feedwhich is similar to the card feed clutch disclosed in Fig. 1a of theLake Patent No. 1,822,594, dated September 8, 1931 to which referenceshould be had for details of construction and operation.

Upon completion of the electrical circuit to clutch magnet IS the latterattracts its armature 20 to raise a clutch lever 2| to thereby unlatchthe latter from a clutch pawl 22. The latter is then drawn by a relatedspring 23 to engage the constantly rotating ratchet wheel l9. The clutchpawl 22 is carried by a bar 25, which is secured to a disk 26 secured toshaft l8 and to the latter there is secured a pinion 21.

The construction and operation of the card feed clutch, as is wellknown, is such that upon ener gization of magnet i5, disk 26 will berotated and successive rotations of the shaft l8, and therefore pinion21, will ensue as long as tabulating operations are desired.

The pinion 21 is in mesh with a gear 28 and the latter drives the upperset of feeding rollers i2 and the lower set of feeding rollers I4. Theupper set of feeding rollers is intergeared by pinions 29 one of whichis rotatable with a gear 30 in mesh with the driving gear 28. The latteralso meshes with a pinion 31 which is rotatable with one of a pair ofintergeared pinions 32 carried by the rollers H which drive the lowerset of feeding rollers H in opposite directions. The driving gear 23 isof suillcient width to drive a gear 34 so that by a train of gears 35,35 a shaft 31 is driven It is understood that as is usual in tabulatingmachines the card feed clutch is so designed and the gears are soproportioned that shaft 31 will be given a complete revolution in thearrow direction shown in Fig. 2.

It is customary in the type of machine described to cause printing fromtype of a printing mechanism which are presented to a printing line insynchronous relationship with the analyzing of the index points of thecard and to carry out the printing function in a novel manner animproved construction will now be described with particular reference toFigs. 2 and 3.

The shaft 31 has attached thereto a gear segment 33 adapted to mesh witha pinion 39 secured to a drive shaft 45 the gear ratio being so selectedthat three quarters of a revolution of the shaft 31 will drive the shaft43 a complete revolution by the segment 33 and pinion .35.

The shaft 45, for each unit of the printing device, has splined theretoa circular disk 4| provided with a hole 42 (Fig. 3) in which there isfitted a spring-pressed clutch ball 43. Overlying the disk 4| and in theplane therewith is a ratchet wheel 44 of a ring-like formation, theinner periphery being provided with a series of wedge-shaped clutchteeth 45 one of which is engaged by the spring-pressed clutch ball 43.It is obvious, therefore, that this engagement provides an impositiveclutch connection between the shaft 43 and the ratchet wheel 44.Attached to the ratchet wheel 44 is a gear wheel 45 which is intergearedwith a gear 41 pivoted at 48 on an arm 45.. To the gear 48 there issecured a type wheel 5|] carrying spaced numeral type 5|. Each printingunit comprising a ratchet wheel 44 and gear wheel 46 is spaced apartfrom another unit by a spacer disk 1| (Fig. 3).

To the shaft 31 there is secured a cam 52 having a high portion 53normally contacting with a finger 54 of one arm 55 of a pair of armspivoted by a rod 55 and connected together by a rod 51. A spring 51aurges the finger 54 to contact with the cam 52 to position the rod 51 asshown in Fig. 2. In this position of the rod 51 each armature 53 of aprinting control magnet 59 is urged by its related spring 50 so that astop pin 5| pivoted to the armature is out of cooperation with the teethof the ratchet wheel 44.

The shaft 31 rotates synchronously with the passage of the card past theanalyzing brushes l3 so that a type 5| is presented to a platen 52corresponding to the numerical value of the index point analyzed. Alsoat the initial rotation of cam 52 the high portion 53 thereof will bemoved out of cooperation with the finger 54 whereby the spring 51a willmove the rod 51 to the right.

Thereupon each armature spring 50 will move the related stop pin 5| outof cooperation with a zero stop projection 53 of a related ratchet wheel44. g

It will be understood that shaft 45 has already been turned a slightextent so that the clutch ball 43 is moved out of engagement with thedeepest part of the wedge-shaped notch 45. After this partial movementof shaft 40 the ratchet wheel 44 is unlocked by the shifting of the stoppin 5| so that the clutch ball 43 will by the action of the clutchspring enter the deepest part of the notch 45 thereby re-aligning theratchet wheel 44 and type wheel 53 and bring them in normalrelationship. This again places the type wheel 50 in synchronism withthe shaft 31 and the type wheel 50 will rotate until the magnet 53 isenergized which occurs when a perforation is encountered. The relatedstop pin 3| is now shifted to the left to engage with a notch of theratchet wheel 44 thereby stopping the rotation of the printing wheel andretaining the selected type 5| at the printing line. The shaft 45 by theimpositive clutch connection rotates up to the completion of a fullrevolution of the shaft eflected by the segment 38.

When a magnet 59 is energized it will close its contacts '54 therebyproviding as shown in Fig. 1 a stick circuit for the magnet to keep itenergized irrespective of the opening of the circuit by the shifting ofthe analyzing brush l3 out of the perforation. The magnets are heldenergized until cam controlled contacts 35 (Fig. 1) open at the end of afull revolution of shaft 31.

After the segment 33 has driven the shaft 43 a complete revolution andbefore a segment 33 attached to shaft 31 moves into mesh with a gear 51attached to the shaft 45 a printing cam 33 secured to shaft 31 engages aroller 33 carried by the arm 49 and rocks the arm 43 thereby moving theprinting wheel 53 against a platen 32 to cause by the usual inkingribbon 13 an impression from the selected type 5| on a record stripsurrounding the platen 32. The gear 41 in this operation moves away fromthe gear 43 but not sufficient to disengage said gears.

The printing operation preferably takes place while the printing wheelsare not being rotated and after this operation the segment 33 now mesheswith the gear 31 and the gear ratio is so selected that shaft 43 willnow be driven a complete revolution to reset all the printing wheels 50.Magnets 53 are, of course, deenergized to bring the stop pins 3| out ofcooperation with the ratchet wheels 44. The cam 52 is also effectivewhen the second revolution of shaft 43 commences to shift the rod 51forcing pins 3| a suflicient distance so as to act as abutments for thestop projections 33 of the ratchet wheels 44.

When the printing wheels 53 have been reset the parts are now at normaland in the position shown in Fig. 2 ready for another setting of theprinting wheels 55.

While there has been shown and described and pointed out the fundamentalnovel features of the invention as applied to a single modification, itwill be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changesin the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operationmay be made by those skilled in the art without departing from thespirit of the invention. It is the intention therefore to be limitedonly as indicated by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a cyclically operable machine, the combination with a drive shaft.of a printing wheel provided with a series of printing characters, animpositive clutch connection between said printing wheel and said driveshaft, means operable during the first rotation of said drive shaft andwhen a character is to be selected for interrupting the rotation of saidprinting wheel. said drive shaft then completing its first rotation. andmeans for releasing said printing wheel and causing a second rotation ofsaid drive shaft to regs; by said impositive clutch said printing w 2.In a printing machine, the combination with a main drive shaft, of aprinting wheel, an impositive clutch connection between said printingwheel and a second drive shaft, means including a segment operated bysaid main drive shaft to give the second drive shaft 9. completerotation, means operable during the rotation of the second drive shaftfor eifecting the interruption of the .movement of said printing wheelto select a printing type thereof, means including a supplementalsegment operated by said main drive shaft to effect a supplementalrotation of the second drive shaft to reset the printing wheel, andmeans effective when neither segment drives the second drive shaft toeffect a printing operation from the selected type. v

3. In a machine of the class described, in combination, a printingelement, a drive shaft, 9. member rotatable with said printing elementand having a plurality of notches, an element rotated by said driveshaft and carrying spring urged means engaging one of said notches toform an impositive clutch connection between said drive shaft and saidprinting element, means for rotating said shaft uni-directionally, andmeans forstopping the operation of said printing element during therotation of said drive shaft.

4. In a machine of the class described, in combination, a rotatabledrive shaft, a circular element attached to the drive shaft and providedwith an aperture receiving a spring urged clutch ball, a ring-shapedelement in the plane of said circular element and provided with internalwedge-shaped notches, one of which receives said clutch ball, a printingelement rotatable with said ring and having printing type, means forretating said drive shaft uni-directionally, and means for interruptingthe rotation of said printing element during the rotation of said driveshaft to select a printing type.

5. In a machine of the class described, in combination, a drive shaft, aprinting wheel adapted to have movements synchronous with said driveshaft, an impositive clutch connection between said printing wheel andsaid drive shaft comprising a spring-pressed element and an elementhaving wedge-shaped notches one of which receives said spring-pressedelement, means for normally locking said printing wheel during theinitial rotation of said shaft, said spring pressed element beingarranged to subsequently re-align said printing wheel and said driveshaft.

6. In a machine of the class described, a drive shaft, a synchronouslyrotatable printing wheel, a member rotatable with said wheel and animpositive clutch betweensaid wheel and said shaft including a springurged clutch'member engaging one of a series of. notches of said member,means for normally locking said printing wheel during the rotation ofsaid shaft, said spring pressed clutch member being constructed to en-'gage with the inclined edge of a notch to automatically re-align saidwheel and said shaft so when they are moved out of synchronism with eachother.

GUSTAV TAUSCHEK.

